Bentota Beach Hotel, designed by Geoffrey Bawa and completed between 1967–1969, stands as a defining work of tropical modernism in Sri Lanka.

Photographed in 2011, before major renovations reshaped much of the original structure, this series documents the hotel’s spatial rhythm, material restraint, and dialogue between architecture, landscape, and water. Courtyards, frangipani trees, batik ceilings by Ena de Silva, and reflective surfaces reveal Bawa’s quiet orchestration of light, movement, and climate.

These images serve as a visual record of a moment now largely altered — an architectural memory preserved through observation rather than reconstruction.

Photographed by Sandun de Silva.